Doomsday Clock is set to two and a half minutes to midnight for 2017

THE Doomsday Clock is at two and a half minutes to midnight. The only other time the clock has been closer to midnight—at two minutes—was 1953 when the US decided to develop the hydrogen bomb – much more powerful than the original atomic bomb. The scientific marker of the world’s end has only been moved to the three minute mark three times in history. First in 1949 when the arms race officially started and the second time during the peak of nuclear warhead stockpiles in 1984 – when it was reported that every channel of communication had been shut down between Russia and the US. The decline of the current global climate was marked in 2015 when a shift to three minutes to midnight was made and held only 12 months later in 2016.

Since the beginning of nuclear weapon stockpiling, of the original developing countries, China is the only country to have never reduced it’s stockpile. The US and Russia have reduced their levels to about 10 per cent of peak figures however modern warheads are potentially more powerful than those during peak levels.

Late adopters Israel, India and Pakistan have also consistently increased their stockpiles while other countries reduce the number of warheads in their arsenals.